San Bruno Cop Faces Fraud Count / He allegedly used name of dead teen, got credit

Benjamin Pimentel, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published
4:00 am PST, Friday, March 20, 1998

1998-03-20 04:00:00 PDT SAN BRUNO -- A San Bruno police officer has been arrested for allegedly stealing the identity of a 14-year-old youth who died in a car accident and using the ID to commit credit fraud.

Officer Michael Van Polanen is accused of misusing the name and Social Security number of Dean Joseph Xerogeanes of San Bruno, who died in 1975, according to court records filed in San Mateo County Superior Court.

Van Polanen, 37, who joined the San Bruno Police Department in 1989, was taken into custody by the San Mateo District Attorney's Office on Wednesday and faces felony charges of fraud, perjury and impersonation of another person, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. Van Polanen, a resident of San Bruno, was released after posting a $10,000 bail.

The charges levied against the officer are "without precedent," Wagstaffe said. "He used this other person's identify to obtain new credit."

The teenager's parents, Gus and Josephine Xerogeanes, said they were devastated by what the officer is accused of doing. Their son was killed in an automobile accident, Josephine Xerogeanes said.

"It opened a lot of wounds from more than 20 years ago," she said, adding that she had never heard of Van Polanen before the case came up.

"Why would he pick a name like ours?" her husband asked. "It's the cruelest thing anyone can do. I'm just disgusted."

Neither Van Polanen nor his attorney could be reached for comment yesterday.

Captain Russ Nicolopulos of the San Bruno Police Department said Van Polanen, who had been assigned to the patrol division, has been put on administrative leave with pay.

He declined to comment on the case except to say, "He (Van Polanen) deserves his due process."

Police uncovered the alleged scam after a bill collector told the elder Xerogeanes in October that his son's account was past due, according to a search warrant affidavit filed by District Attorney Inspector Michael Dirickson.

Surprised, Xerogeanes immediately notified San Bruno police, who confirmed that a then-unknown person used the late teenager's identify to obtain a California driver's license, the affidavit said.

When police pulled the photo of the suspected impersonator, they got another surprise.

"When Captain Nicolopulos saw the photo, he felt the photo looked like Van Polanen, except the suspect depicted in the Xerogeanes photo had a 'goatee and a mustache,' " Dirickson wrote.

A handwriting expert from the San Mateo County crime lab said police reports filed by Van Polanen and the DMV application form filled out by Xerogeanes' impersonator were apparently written by the same person, the affidavit said.

The affidavit was used to search Van Polanen's home and his Police Department locker.

Among the items police found at Van Polanen's home were bank statements under Xerogeanes' name, the affidavit said. Deputy District Attorney Pat Briggs said they also found a disguise kit that included such items as mustaches and goatees.

Briggs said he has yet to determine the amount of credit Van Polanen obtained using Xerogeanes' identity. It's also unclear whether Van Polanen stole money and goods.

"It's not clear that he was doing this to try to get free money or goods rather than just to get credit by using somebody else's name," he said.

The district attorney is also investigating an unidentified woman who was apparently Van Polanen's accomplice.

Van Polanen had rented a post office box with someone who used the name and birth certificate of a Jessica Lynn Moore, the affidavit said.

The real Jessica Lynn Moore died in July 1970, a month after she was born, the court document said.